Credit One Bank granted more than $1.75 million to 23 organizations in Southern Nevada in 2020. The grants ranged from $10,000 to $140,000. Organizations that benefited included the Academy of Finance at Clark High School, HELP of Southern Nevada, Junior Achievement of Southern Nevada, the Shade Tree, U.S. Vets – Las Vegas and 18 others. In addition, Credit One committed to donating $1 million as part of a new partnership with Best Friends Animal Society to help grow operations and outreach across the country to animal shelters and rescue groups, as well as promote foster, adoption, advocacy and spay-and-neuter practices.
Nevada Gold Mines, operated by Barrick, launched the Endowment Fund, with a $500,000 initial investment to support community needs and a Heritage Fund to support local nonprofit organizations via employee giving. Through the Heritage Fund, Nevada Gold Mines employees can help nonprofit organizations of their choice. All 7,000 employees got $25 to start their giving account, and 120% of each employee contribution to qualified organizations or to the Endowment Fund will be matched.
SR Construction donated $5,120 to St. Jude’s Ranch for Children. The donation will assist the nonprofit organization in its efforts to provide a safe, nurturing home with therapeutic residential treatment services to abused and neglected children in Nevada.
The Shade Tree and Noah’s Animal House announced $5,000 donations to each organization from Findlay Toyota on behalf of the Southern Nevada Toyota Dealers. The Shade Tree also received a $65,000 donation from the Estate of Laurel Davis.
UFC announced a five-year extension of its longstanding collaboration with Cleveland Clinic and its continued support of the Professional Athletes Brain Health Study. Supported by a $1 million contribution to the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, the contribution supports research to help determine the long-term effects of repetitive head trauma and factors that put certain people at higher risk of developing chronic traumatic encephalopathy.
The Rogers Foundation awarded an additional $125,000 to seven of its inaugural 2016 scholarship award recipients who have completed their undergraduate studies and are now interested in pursuing advanced degrees. The seven young women, pursuing master’s degrees in a variety of fields including public health, public administration and engineering, are Reilly Barth, Gargi Pandey, Brooklyn Stepro, Georgina Martinez, Natasha Waters, Kaylee O’Donnell and Isabel Mendez.
The LGBTQ Center of Southern Nevada awarded the Petzing Perseverance Scholarship to three students who plan careers in the LGBTQ community by providing culturally sensitive health and human services. The recipients included Willy Jay Nicolas, who volunteers as a testing counselor and plans to use the scholarship to pay for medical school applications and MCAT test fees; Kandall Dietz, who volunteers at the reception desk and is a CAN advocate, and was accepted into the UNLV social work master’s program; and Izzy Fernandez, who volunteers as a testing counselor in the clinic reception and plans to apply to medical school.
The Mayor’s Fund for Las Vegas LIFE received a $50,000 grant from SilverSummit Healthplan to underwrite the purchase of an ADA-compliant van to transport homeless patients to medical and social services appointments from the Recuperative Care Center. The fund also received a $25,000 grant from the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians to support the Vegas Strong Academies program that provides a safe, caring and affordable child care option with emphasis on support for distance learning, as well as $90,000 from donors including the Las Vegas Raiders, KVVU Fox5, Barclays, D&L Roofing, Home Depot Foundation and Les Olson Company to underwrite new playground structures at Gary Reese Freedom Park.
The Las Vegas Area Council, Boy Scouts of America donated over $18,000 of popcorn sold this past year to the staff and patients at the VA Hospital. Last fall, local Cub Scouts and BSA Scouts sold over $426,000 in popcorn. Over $46,000 was in donations for their local Hometown Heroes Program. Already $13,000 was donated to Serving Our Kids Foundation and $10,000 to Veterans Village.
FundNV, the pre-seed investment fund of StartUpNV, Nevada’s nonprofit business incubator for scalable startups, announced its inaugural investment of $50,000 that offers a novel and innovative software solution to streamline the process of placing and tracking purchase orders for electrical contractors.